Rationale:
For a reader to be successful he/she must consistently read fluently,
accurately, and with expression. To become fluent one must practice by rereading
text over and over again. By participating in repeated readings, students will
become a fluent reader by decoding words, which will lead to automatic word
recognition. This lesson will help students become fluent by testing their
reading speed. The fluency formula used to test their reading speed is "words x
60/ seconds". The teacher will chart the students' reading time to watch,
as they are able to read the text faster. The more fluent students become the
better they can comprehend the message of the text they are reading, leading
them to become successful readers.

Materials:
Pencil for each student, fluency checklist (one per student to use with a
partner), timer/stopwatch per student, a copy of Amelia Bedelia for each
student, reading chart for each student

Procedures:

Teacher says:
"Who
can tell me what you have to do to be good readers? To be a good reader you must
be able to read fluently. To be fluent means that you are able to read words
quickly, correctly, and with expression. If you can read a book fluently it will
sound like you are having a normal conversation with somebody. This will help
you to understand the story better also. If I can read the words correctly, and
quickly I will be able to focus on the story better! Do you think we can become
fluent readers?? Yes we can, but only if we PRACTICE!! Let's get started!!"

Teacher passes out a copy of Amelia Bedelia to each student, and keeps
one for herself/himself:
“Have
you ever been reading a book, and all of a sudden you come to a word on the page
you don't recognize? When this happens you have to stop and sound the word out,
which might cause you to forget what was happening in the story. If this happens
it is best that you go back and reread the word several times, so that it gets
easier to recognize the word while reading. Today, we are going to be reading
Amelia Bedelia several times, so that the words become easier for us to
recognize.”

Teacher says:
"If I
read a sentence and it doesn't make sense what self-help strategy am I going to
use? Remember we talked about what to do if a sentence does not sound right.
Let's all say which strategy we are going to use together. (Crosschecking) very
good. I am going to crosscheck to see which word makes sense. Let's look at the
sentence strip on the board. Listen as I read the sentence. The cat has a tall.
The cat has a tall? That doesn't make sense. I am going to crosscheck, and think
what word starts with a t and ends in l that has to do with cats.
The cat has a tall? Hmm. Oh! The cat has a TAIL. The cat has a tail. That word
isn't tall, it's tail. As you read today I want you to remember to crosscheck if
you read a sentence and it doesn't make sense. Remember to reread the sentence
afterwards, so you can regain your comprehension, and store the word in your
memory."

Teacher says/models: “The
first time you pick up a book you may not recognize some of the words. I am
going to read the first sentence in the book The Cat in the Hat. The
s-u-n, sun, did n-o-t, not shin. The sun did not shin? That can't be right. Sh-iii-n,
oh shine! I noticed I had to stop a few times while reading this sentence. Let
me try it again. The su-n did no-t shiiinne. This time was much better. Let me
try again. The sun did not shine. Much better! I remembered the words after
decoding them a few times. Now, I am going to read it again, but this time I am
going to try and read it with expression! (Read the sentence with expression).
Raise your hand if you could understand the story better when I read correctly
and used emotion to read. Yes, it does make it easier when it sounds like I am
just talking doesn't it? I read the sentence over and over again which lead me
to reading it faster, correctly, and with expression. Now I want you guys to try
repeated readings to see if you can become a more fluent reader like I did.”

Teacher says:
"Everybody open up your book Amelia Bedelia at your desk and read
silently. Amelia Bedelia is a housekeeper for Mrs. Rogers. One day, Amelia
Bedelia went inside of Mrs. Rogers house to do her chores, and she accidentally
did everything wrong on the list she was supposed to do. She cut up Mrs.
Roger's towels, put dust on the furniture, took the light bulbs out of the
lamps, and many more things. Then Mrs. Rogers comes home to find the big mess.
What do you think she will say to Amelia Bedelia? Do you think she will be mad?
We will have to read to find out more!

Teacher says:
"I
want you to read silently at your desk until our timer goes off. Try and read to
page 15. If you finish reading to page 15, start over and read it again. Keep
rereading until you hear the timer go off". (Set timer for 12-15
minutes).

Teacher says:
"Now,
I want you to get with a partner and you are going to read the book to your
partner. (Pass out timers/stop watches to each student. Remind students
how to work them. Also pass out the Fluency Checklists to each student).
One
of you is going to read the book to page 15 while the other partner uses the
timer to time the reader. The partner with the stopwatch can follow along with
the reader as well. Read the pages 3 times to your partner. Remember to record
the times that you scored on the reading chart. Use the Fluency Checklist to see
how well your partner did after they read to you three times. You will mark if
they remembered more words, read faster, read smoother, and read with expression
after each reading.”

Assessment:

Teacher says:
"While you are reading to your partner I will be calling you up to my desk one
at a time for you to read about 10 pages to me. Try and do your best with the
reading, and I will time your score to see how fluent you are. (Use the fluency
formula to determine the words read per minute). This will show me how many
words you can read per minute. Each week the teacher will chart the
students' scores to see improvement.